


Opposite ends

by Ikana (Ikana_Trash)



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Angst, Attempt at Humor, Background Relationships, Crack Treated Seriously, F/F, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Blue Lions Route, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Blue Lions/Golden Deer Joint Route, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Golden Deer Route, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Implied Relationships, M/M, Only the first two ships are prominent, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Some characters may be OOC, The Author Regrets Nothing, This started off as crack, but now I’m kinda just Vibing with it, the rest are more or less
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:41:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26238787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ikana_Trash/pseuds/Ikana
Summary: Canada and Netherlands go to sleep together, and wake up separated in a strange, new world
Relationships: Canada/Netherlands (Hetalia), Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Claude von Riegan, Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier, Marianne von Edmund/Hilda Valentine Goneril, Raphael Kirsten/Ignatz Victor
Comments: 12
Kudos: 14





	1. The New New World

**Author's Note:**

> My dumbass forgot to write Byleth into this story. Considering what this fic is though, I’m sure the lack of Byleth or organization isn’t too much of a problem. This was literally never meant to be taken seriously but, well... you see where that went...

“ _Bonne nuit,_ Abel,” Matthew Williams, better known to many others as simply Canada, snuggled up behind his boyfriend in their large bed at Matthew’s house,

“ _Welterusten,_ Matthew,” Abel De Vries, otherwise known as The Netherlands to some others, replied back fondly, “I’ll see you in the morning, _mijn kleine snoepje,_ ”

* * *

Annette was testing out a new spell she had just discovered in the catacombs under the royal family’s Castle. It claimed to be able to bring forth beings from another world, and how could she not try it? She would be able to get them to join their side of the war and they could fight for them. They’d be useful and it could save them in the long run, so She gathered everything she needed for the spell since it was much more complicated than simply casting it, and she prepared herself for what would come through,

**_“Producat in externis.Patitur autem colunt ea.Da eos in domum novam, et novi orbis novi domum.Producat in externis,”_** She chanted as she read the text in the tome. Magic rarely required a tome now, let alone a chant or verbal cue, so she didn’t expect it to work. Unfortunately, she was correct in her assumption and was unable to summon anything for another world. With a sigh, she packed her things back up and prepared to go to bed.

* * *

When Matthew woke up, he noticed he was no longer in bed with Abel, and that Abel was no where to be seen. He was in a field, near what looked to be a massive church or castle. He got to panicking instantly. _Where was Abel? What happened to him? Where what he? How did he get here? What caused this? Why was this happening?_

Then he took notice of the other problem... he couldn’t feel his people. They were gone. He couldn’t feel his land. It was gone. His Nation sense of his people and the land had vanished. He couldn’t feel anything. 

He began panicking even more, and he started to breath faster and faster at the realization. His breathing grew shorter, and he tried to control it, but he just couldn’t. He tried deep breaths, but he couldn’t. What happened to him? Where are his people? He couldn’t take his mind off of it. How could he? He’d spent his whole life having a sixth sense, and joe it was taken from him. Was this really what humans felt like, with only five senses? It was strange. It was alarming. He was having trouble breathing now, and he couldn’t think of anything that could soothe him. He was in a trance of panic, unable to think straight about anything other than his worries,

“S-Sir, are you alright?” Matthew raised his head to see a pale skinned lady with short, off-white hair in an elaborate dress and hat,

“I-I-I... I d-don’t know... I don’t know...I ca- I don’t know...” he was able to make out in between desperate breaths. The lady’s turned to one of even more concern,

“Sir, I want to help you, so I’m going to need you to calm down, alright?” Matthew nodded hesitantly,

“W-Where... W-Where am I?” The lady tilted her head, confused,

“You don’t know?” Matthew shook his head, finally starting to calm down in the lady’s presence. Something about her just made him feel calmer, “well, you are just outside Garret Mach Monastery,” 

“A-And where’s that? I’ve never heard of that,” 

“Are you from outside of Fódlan?” Matthew put a hand to his head,

“I... I guess. I don’t know how I got here. I-I... Last night, I was in my house with my... Friend... and I fell asleep, and when I woke up, I-I was here, wherever here is,” He answered,

“I see. Can you please come with me, Sir? I assume you have no where to stay, correct?”

“ _O-Oui, J-_ “ he cut himself off, slightly ashamed that he had subconsciously spoken French, “Sorry, uh, yes, I don’t have anywhere to stay, you are correct,”

“My name is Mercedes von Martritz, May I get your name?” 

“Uh, right, Uh, my name is Matthew. Matthew Williams that is, nice to meet you Mercedes. Sorry for not introducing myself sooner,” Mercedes giggled quietly as she started walking towards the Monastery, motioning for Matthew to follow,

“No need to apologize, Matthew...” Matthe nodded his head,

“Right, sorry, Force of habit,” Mercedes giggled again,

“You said it again,” Matthew sighed,

“Sorry... damn, said it again, sorry... again... So- no, not again...” Mercedes laughed and gave Matthew a fond smile when she was done,

“So, you don’t know about anything going on right now, then?” 

“N-No, I do not, should I?” Mercedes shook her head,

“You said you are from outside Fódlan, so I don’t expect you to know,” she answered. The two of them stayed quiet after that until they got into the monastery wall. Mercedes brought Matthew up to a dorm building and led him upstairs to a door to someone’s room. She took in a nervous breath and lightly knocked on it,

“Dimitri? I found someone outside the monastery having a sort of panic attack. He claims he’s from outside of Fódlan and that he doesn’t know how he got here,” a low grumble sounded from the other side followed by the creaking of a bed,

“Why would you bring him here?” The door opened, revealing a rather bulky man with messy blond hair and an eyepatch. He glanced over to look to Matthew and seemingly started analyzing him, “You had no reaction to my appearance,” He commented offhandedly, 

“I... Should I have reacted in a certain way? I’m sorry if I disappointed you,” Matthew spoke up. The man, presumably Dimitri huffed,

“No, Mercedes said you were from outside Fodlán so you wouldn’t recognize me, but you still didn’t react to my eyepatch,” Matthe tilted his head and stared at Dimitri,

“Well, it’s rude to stare, is it not?” Dimitri rolled an eye, 

“You can leave now Mercedes, I’m going to talk with him,” Mercedes nodded and went on her way with a smile, “What is your name?” 

“Matthew,”

“I’m Dimitri,”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Dimitri,” Matthew greeted with a smile, too which Dimitri gave him a confused look,

“Do you not fear me?” Matthew shook his head, confused, “you should. I don’t know you and you don’t know me. For all I know, you could be someone from the imperial army. For all you know I could be the last person you ever see,” Matthew slightly shuffled where he was standing,

“A-Are you threatening me?” Dimitri slowly shook his head,

“I’ve... gotten better, but it’s still hard to control myself at times. I still hear the voices and I can’t ignore them. I could lash out at any moment,” Matthew gave a slight, nervous smile,

“Thank for telling me, then. I had no idea, now I’ll know what to expect,”

“Does it not score you?” Dimitri questioned,

“N-No, not particularly,” Dimitri huffed,

“Of course, you don’t know who I am...” Matthew continued staring at Dimitri, waiting for him to continue, “you should fear me because I’ve killed dozens, likely hundreds. I used to have a... Bloodlust I suppose, but I’ve recovered for the most part. You should fear me, and yet you don’t,” Matthew gulped nervously,

“I’m sorry to hear that but I’m glad you’re recovering,”

“Why do you not fear me?! After everything there is about me, with my looks and what I’ve told you, why do you still not fear me?” Dimitri was starting to get angry and it was starting to scare Matthew, but he kept his friendly and semi-scared Façade up and shrugged,

“You’re working to get better, and... from what you’ve told me, you’re not too far from myself,” Dimitri slightly tilted his head and stared at Matthew,

“How so?”

“I-I’d rather not speak of it...” Matthew paused and took a deep breath in, “I have reason to believe I’m from a different world than your own,” He said, trying to steer the conversation in a different direction, “see, there is n-“

“DIMITRI!!!” Matthew was interrupted by a relatively short woman with orange hair, running straight at him and Dimitri, “IS THAT IT?!” She skidded to a halt next to Matthew and began looking him over, “you don’t look anything like I was expecting...” she commented,

“Annette, what are trying to say?” The woman, likely called Annette, looked to Dimitri with a smile then back to Matthew, 

“This-“ she motioned you Matthew cheerfully, “-is a Person from another world that will help us in the war!” Matthew blinked, startled at what Annette said,

“Excuse me?”

“Yeah! I summoned you here to help in the war!” Matthew shook his head,

“I’m sorry, but no thank you, I need to get back home. I... I have friends and family I have to get back to and I have a job i need to do,” Annette’s face turned to one of worry,

“Oh no!! I didn’t even think about that! Oh, Goddess, I’m so sorry, Sir!” Matthew tried his best to give a reassuring smile,

“Are you able to get me back home?” Annette averted her gaze and took a breath in,

“N-No... you’re only able to go back after you’ve fulfilled your duty to me...”

“Which is?”

“Helping us win the war...” she said quietly, clearly ashamed. Matthew sighed,

“I... I really don’t have a choice then, huh?” Annette nodded and turned to Dimitri,

“I’m sorry that Annette here took you from your home, but there’s no going back now,” Matthew nodded,

“Just hope I’m on the good side...” he muttered under his breath,

“What was that?” Matthew looked up to Dimitri and shook his head,

“It’s nothing. Show me where I’m staying,” Dimitri nodded and turned to Annette,

“He can go in any of the empty rooms,” 

“Got it, your highness!” Dimitri rolled an eye and closed the door, leaving Matthew with Annette,

“Highness?” Annette smiled,

“Yeah, he’s the current king of the Holy kingdom of Faerghus!” 

“Big name...” Matthew paused and shook his name, “Arthur’s got a bigger one though...” He quietly laughed at that, catching Annette’s attention enough for her to turn to him,

“What’s funny?”

“Oh, it’s just, uh, back in my world, there’s a country... well, it’s a unification of a few countries, but it’s called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,” Matthew answered,

“Oh wow, and what kingdoms are in the United Kingdom of-“

“Just call it the UK...” he interrupted, “and the countries within the UK are England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland... and-“ he paused to think, “I wouldn’t call them... Kingdoms. They have royalty, or at least England does... not too sure about the others -I’m not too close with them- but the Royal family doesn’t rule the country anymore. They have a Prime Minister,”

“A Prime Minister, huh? So that’s who in charge then? Not the Royal family?” Matthew nodded,

“Yes, the Prime minister is, but they’re not the same amount of power as a Royal family would have... its kinda hard to explain, so we’ll just leave it at that, eh?” Annette smiled in return, not having anything else to say. They eventually arrived to am empty room a few rooms down. Annette let Matthew in and said her goodbyes. She had to go tell the others about what she just did... Then maybe get the others to meet Matthew since he would be fighting alongside them now.

* * *

Abel didn’t know where he was. One moment he was in bed with his beloved Matthew, the next he was waking up in the middle of a forest. The next thing he noticed was his lack of his sixth sense. His people... they were gone. His land too. It was gone. Everything that made him the Netherlands was gone. He felt so empty, he felt... _human..._

“Hey, Who are you?!” Abel whipped around to see a redheaded -or rather an Orange haired- lady pointing a bow and arrow right at him. Now that was a weapon he hadn’t seen in a while,

“I’m sorry, I’m unaware of where I am!” He answered, quickly putting his hands up to show he was unarmed, “I feel asleep last night at... a friend’s house and I woke up here!” The lady slowly lowered her bow and squinted at Abel, examining him from afar. She took a few cautious steps forward, then looked over her shoulder,

“Raphael!” 

“What?!”

“Come take a look at this guy, I need you to intimidate him!” 

“Okay!” A few seconds passed, and Abel was now able to see why the lady had called this Raphael over to intimidate him. The man was massive, but he had a kind face,

“Get him to talk, I’m going to go inform Claude,” Raphael nodded,

“Okay!” Raphael approached Abel, and smiled, “so, what’s your name, stranger man?”

“Abel...” 

“Nice to meet you Abel, I’m Raphael!” Raphael put a hand out which Abel took and shook hesitantly, “so, Leonie found your here, huh?”

“Is that the lady’s name?” Raphael nodded,

“Sure is!”

“Then yes, this is where she found me. I haven’t moved a bit,”

“What’s that accent? You’re not from Fódlan, are you?” Abel raised an eyebrow,

“Fódlan?”

“Y’know, the continent you’re on... at least I think it’s a continent... I don’t know about geographic-y,” Abel chuckled,

“Yeah, well, I know too much about geography for my own good,” he mused, thinking back to his own land and all the nations, “way too much...”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I’m uh... involved with my country’s government back home... speaking of which,” Abel paused to take a deep breath in, “I don’t think I’m in my world anymore... as in, I think I’m from a different world and I was somehow transported here,”

“What makes you think that?” A new voice sounded from where the lady was and both Abel and Raphael turned to see a darker skinned man with messy dark brown hair and a slight beard, “Raphael, you’re dismissed, I’ll speak with him,” Raphael nodded and left Abel behind, giving the other man a smile as he left, “so...” the man walked forward and squatted next to Abel who was still sitting in the grass, “another world, huh?” Abel nodded, “name’s Claude, by the way,”

“Abel,” Claude nodded and smiled,

“Nice to meet you, Abel,” He grinned, holding a hand out for Abel to shake, which he took, “so, what makes you think you’re in a different world?” Abel cleated his throat. What was he supposed to say? That he was a personified country and he couldn’t feel his people and his land anymore? He knew he was in a new world, but he still couldn’t just say what he was. Claude seemed like a good guy, but he’d learnt to always keep his guard up, 

“It just... feels wrong. Like I don’t belong here. I don’t recognize anything and the way you and Raphael and Leonie was dressed... it’s so different from my world,” Claude slowly nodded, and looked Abel up and down,

“Well, your clothes are definitely strange,”

“And the fact that the lady pointed a, uh... a Arrow at me... a bow and arrow,” Claude squinted at him,

“Yes, well, I can definitely tell Fódlani isn’t your first language either,” Abel shook his head, choosing to ignore the fact he referred to English as Fódlani,

“I spoke Dutch before I spoke... Fódlani,” Claude raised an eyebrow,

“Dutch?” 

“Yes, it is the Language of... The Netherlands,”

“Never heard of Netherlands... or Dutch for that matter,” Claude paused and took a breath in, scanning the area, “can you fight?” 

“Well, yes, I suppo-“

“Will you join us in the war?”

“War?” Claude huffed and nodded,

“There is a war going on currently and we need all the people we can get. If you can fight, I Ask that you join us,” Abel sighed,

“What side am I fighting for?” Claude raised an eyebrow and stared at Abel briefly before looking away to stare off into the woods,

“I like to think we’re the good guys. The, uh, Empress of the Adrestian Empire is trying to conquer the world. Her name is Edelgard Von Hresvelg, and the war started roughly five years ago when she declared a war on the church... that is the basics,” Abel nodded,

“Her motive?” Claude sighed,

“You are thorough, I commend you for that-“

“Yeah, well, I’ve been in my share of wars, I don’t like fighting them but If I have to, I’d prefer to be on the so-called good side,” Claude nodded,

“Right, well... I’m actually not exactly sure. It seems she declared war just because she hated the Church. She claims her aim is unifying everyone, but, well... that’s not going to happen, at least not the way she’s doing it,” Abel closed his eyes as he thought for a few seconds,

“Very well, I will join you, since there is nothing else I can do. Hopefully we can find a way to get me back home while we’re at it,” Claude gave Abel a wide smile and held out his hand, pulling Abel up and off the ground

“Welcome to the former Golden Deers, then! I’ll get Lysithea to look into other worlds for you,” Claude added on with a wink, “come, I’ll take you to our camp, and there I’ll introduce you to everyone!” Abel simply nodded and followed Claude back to the camp. He didn’t have a good feeling about this.

* * *

Matthew quickly fell back asleep, hoping that everything was a dream, but when he was woken up to a knock, and the sound of Mercedes’s voice, his hopes were quickly shut down. He groaned as he pulled himself out of bed and yawned,

“Matthew? Did you hear me?” 

“ _Oui, Je éco-_ Sorry, uh, _Oui,_ I... Sorry, Yes, I did...” He heard the faint giggle of Mercedes from the other side of the door,

“It’s alright, Matthew, I was just coming to tell you that Annette has told about you to the others and now they all want to meet you. I was sent to grab you so you could introduce yourself,” Matthew groaned and opened the door, slowly nodding,

“Let’s meet them then,” Mercedes smiled,

“Come along, then!”

When Matthew made it to what was apparently the dining hall where everyone was waiting, he was greeted by a handful of relatively young looking men and woman,

“He almost looks like a girl from behind,” Matthew saw a red haired man exclaim,

“He looks friendly,” a Gray haired man commented. Matthew smiled, glad that he wasn’t scaring the young men and women,

“Aww, He’s got a cute smile,” a Blonde woman added, causing a tired looking man to raise an eyebrow,

“I’m concerned if he really can fight, looks like a softie to me,” the man spoke up, eyeing Matthew weirdly,

“Okay everyone, this is Matthew. If you all quiet down, you can introduce yourselves to him!” Mercedes interrupted, quieting everyone else,

“I suppose I should go first, considering I’m the stranger here. I’m sure you know already, but my name is Matthew,” Everyone politely nodded except the tired looking man,

“I’ll introduce myself first then since Annette and Mercedes have already been introduced to you,” the Gray haired man spoke up, his voice soft, “My name is Ashe, it’s nice to meet you Matthew,” Matthew nodded and smiled, sensing Ashe’s nervousness,

“And I’m Sylvain, at your service,” the red haired man introduced himself with an over dramatic bow followed by the tired looking man scoffing and rolling his eyes,

“I’m Ingrid, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Matthew,” the Blonde lady introduced herself with a slight smile,

“And I’m Felix,” The tired looking man man finally gave Matthew his name, albeit very grumpily,

“Yes, And it’s nice to meet you all aswell. I hope I can be of some help in this war...” he said, somewhat now regretting his choice to agree. Everyone seemed old fashioned, even by his standards, and he was well over a hundred years old. It didn’t seem to him that they had guns which was the only weapon he had dedicated training to and everything he’d learnt from his natives had been repressed and so he wasn’t sure how well he’d do. Perhaps he could pick up a sword, since he’d used Bayonets before, but he assumed it was fair to think bayonets and swords were nothing alike.

* * *

When Claude led Abel to the camp, it was surprisingly homie. As he suspected, everyone was still in the habit of the old ways of doing things. The Old old ways of doing things. He noticed a man polishing a long sword, and another making arrows while another lady sat by a fire, inspecting her hands. The moment he and Claude got even remotely close to her, she instantly shot up, a wide smile on her face,

“Heyyy, Claude! Is that the other world man?” Claude simply dipped his head in a sort of nod,

“Gather everyone up, introductions are due,” the lady smiled and ran off to the others littered around the camp and soon enough, various people of all shapes and sizes were gathered around the fire,

“As I’m sure most of you have heard, a man who claims tone from another world has agreed to help us in the war,” Claude started, “Would you like to introduce yourself?” He turned to Abel, who nodded,

“Of course. My name is Abel, if anyone is curious, I am... from a country called the Netherlands in my world, where the language is Dutch. That is where my accent is from,” The pink haired lady from before grinned,

“Okay okay, I’ll go first!” She shot her hand up excitedly,

“My name is Hilda!” Abel nodded,

“Uh, I’m Ignatz,” a smaller, Green-haired man spoke up, raising his hand. Abel once again nodded, acknowledging that he heard the man,

“And I am Lorenz Hellman Gloucester, at your service,” The purple haired man who had been polishing a sword before bowed for Abel, who gave him a weird look,

“Ignore him, he’s always like that! My name’s Lysithea, nice to meet you, Abel,” A rather short, white haired girl pushed Lorenz aside, side-eyeing him with a slight scowl,

“And I’m Raphael! You’ve met me!” Raphael reintroduced himself with a smile. Abel nodded, turning to look at the red-haired lady that he first saw,

“Leonie,” she said quickly, turning her gaze back to the tents, “where’s Marianne? Hilda?” At the mention of her name, Hilda perked up,

“What?” Leonie sighed,

“I asked where Marianne was,” 

“Oooohh! She’s in our tent, she didn’t want to come out... said she was too nervous,” Leonie closed her eyes and put her head in her hands, letting out an exasperated sigh, 

“Hilda... go get Marianne,” Hilda quickly got up from her seat when Leonie gave her an angry stare,

“R-Right, Sorry!” Abel watched as Hilda dashed off into a tent some ways away,

“So, while we’re waiting for Marianne to come out, how about you tells us more about yourself, Abel? What weapons can you use?” 

“Oh, well that’s easy. It’s been a while, but I like to think I’m quite... good with a... good with a... a....damn, sorry, I forgot what it was called in English... Fódlani, Sorry. I forgot what it was in Fódlani...” That earned a laugh from Claude,

“So what is it in your language? Or maybe you can describe it?” Lysithea piped up, trying to help,

“Okay, well, it’s pretty long, really sharp, and it’s like a long Knife... they’re called a _Zwaard_ in Dutch,” Lysithea quickly lit up with a wide smile, excited,

“A sword! You can use a sword!”

“Yes yes, a Sword! That’s what they’re called, a Sword, thank you!” Lysithea nodded with a smile and turned around to see Hilda with a sad looking woman,

“Hey guys, I got Marianne!!” Hilda shouted, dragging the woman behind her,

“T-That’s him?” Abel was barely able to make out what she was saying,

“Yep, that’s him!”

“He’s a sword wielder!” Hilda raised an eyebrow,

“Nice! We needed more, Claude’s the only one even remotely good with swords, and I think It’d be hard for someone to beat him! He was trained by one of the best swordsman in all of... Fódlan!” Abel nodded, impressed, though, choosing to ignore the hesitation when Hilda mentioned Fódlan,

“Well, it’s been quite some time since I’ve used a sword. In my world they were phased out in... well, I’m not exactly sure, but guns were invented sometime in the... well, no... I’m not quite sure myself, but the point is that _Zwa-_ I mean Sword’s haven’t been a common weapon in years,” Claude slowly nodded, 

“But are you able to use one?” Abel took in a breath and then breathed out,

“Yes... Yes I can...”  


* * *

“So, Matthew, tell me about yourself!” Matthew looked up from where he was sitting in the monastery library with a book of Seiros in front of him. The red haired man from before, Sylvain if he remembered correctly pulled out a chair and took a seat next to him, “what’s it like where you’re from?” Matthew pushed the book aside and sighed,

“It’s pretty cold for most of the year there... it’s Canada, that’s what it’s called. My country is Canada,” 

“Canada, huh?” Sylvain reclined in his chair, and Matthew nodded,

“Yes. It’s the second biggest country in my world, but not too populated due to the climate and how northern it is,” Matthew felt a bit weird talking about the country, seeing as he was essentially talking About himself. He’d thought he’d be used to it by now, but it was still strange. In a way, he was almost speaking of himself in third person, he supposed. He shook the thoughts from his head when he noticed Sylvain staring at him expectantly, “there’s really not much to say...”

“Well, tell me about the stories! Or about the leader! Or even the history!” Matthew sighed,

“There’s really not many stories unique to Canada, and my leader is... well... I... I don’t like having opinions on them...” he put his head in his hands and let out another sigh before looking back up to Sylvain, “as for the History... well, it’s... actually a pretty new country in retrospect, so the history doesn’t go too far back,” Sylvain shrugged, 

“Sounds like your avoiding my questions, but okay!”

“Wow... you’re, uh, smarter than I expected... sorry, that sounds really rude, sorry,” Sylvain let out a hearty laugh and patted Matthew on the back,

“Don’t worry about it, I get that a lot. People see a happy-go-lucky Flirt and assume he’s not smart, it’s fine,” 

“No, but really, I shouldn’t have said it aloud, I really am sorry, Sylvain,”

“Geez, Matthew, calm down, it’s fine!” Sylvain nodded and slowly stood up from his seat, “Well, I have a date with a dashing young lady soon, so I’ll leave to your research,” he smiled and waved then turned around, leaving Matthew to continue reading up on the history of Fódlan and Seiros. And he thought his History was weird. Magic and Dragons and Pegasus _(Pegasi?)_ and other unexplainable things like Crests existed in this world... For a brief moment he wondered if he’d have a crest due to who he is, or rather, was, back home. He assumed his... status back home might’ve translated into a crest, but he had no idea how to check. He shrugged it off and got back to reading, reading on about the forming of the Adrestian Empire.  


* * *

“Very impressive, Abel!” Claude let out a huff as he slid down to the floor, exhaust, “From what you were telling us, I assumed you wouldn’t be very good, but...” Claude paused to breath in and out, still tired from the Training session he and Abel just had, “But you are actually quite good...”

“ _Ja,_ I’m quite surprised too...” Claude have Abel a small smile and a thumbs up, 

“It’s a good thing. Mean’s we don’t have to spend time training you, you’re already good with your weapon...” Claude paused to look up for a brief second, then back down to Abel, “question is, are you able to stomach killing others in the battlefield?” Claude’s tone of voice quickly shifted to serious as he eyed down Abel, who simply nodded,

“Of course. I do not enjoy it, of course. Everyone deserves to live their lives, no one deserves to die... well... some do, but that’s besides the point,” Abel muttered the last bit under his breath, slightly turning his head away from Claude, who raised an eyebrow,

“What was that?” He asked, knowing it was unlikely he’d get the answer from Abel,

“It’s... I’m not sure what it’s called actually... uh... Noting? Nating? No, Nathini?” 

“You mean Nothing?” Claude supplied,

“ _Ja!_ That’s the word, Nothing. It’s Nothing,” Claude shrugged and pushed himself off the ground, walking over to the weapon rack and placing the training sword back, he turned back to face Abel, who was now doing the same thing,

“You should know that I love secrets, especially ones I’m not supposed to know,” he said somewhat quietly. With a wink, Claude turned around and left the training grounds, leaving Abel behind. 

When dinner was done and ready and Abel was called to eat, he decided he’d eat his dinner at the fire, next to Raphael and Ignatz. It really reminded him of so many decades ago, of centuries ago, when camps like this one were common place. When Mercenary bands roamed around, and Bandits were loose to do whatever. When the Royalty was still in charge of the country, and Swords, Lances and Bows were still commonplace. Before electricity, before the new world, before cars, before... almost everything. It was strangely nostalgic in a way. He hadn’t lived this way in so long, so he supposed it was nice to experience this way of life after so many years... but there was also a war, a war that he was now fighting in.

* * *

“Matthew?!” Matthew quickly looked up from his book to spot Ingrid standing in the doorway of the library, 

“ _Oui?_ ” Ingrid arched an eyebrow and took a few steps into the library,

“We? Who’s We? What are y-“

“I-It’s French... my first spoken language was French, so I sometimes... accidentally speak French,” He explained as Ingrid got closer, “ _Oui_ means Yes in French,” Ingrid slowly nodded, 

“Okay, well, Food is ready in the dining hall, if you want to eat,” Matthew shook his head, 

“I’m fine, thank you,” Ingrid rolled her eyes,

“You need to eat, Matthew. You haven’t eaten all day, you’ll starve if you keep this up,” she said with a more stern tone. Matthew sighed and looked to his books then back to Ingrid,

“Alright, fine, I’ll eat. Just... let me finish this chapter,” Ingrid have a hesitant nod then turned to leave,

“if you’re not down in the hall in a few minutes, I’m coming back up here and I’m carrying you down,” 

“So he should be here soon,” Ingrid finished, stuffing yet another meatball into her mouth, 

“I’m just curious about his weapon skills,” Felix spoke up as he absentmindedly played with food, “He said he’s never used a weapon like any of ours before, so-“

“Even if he did, you could hardly compare him to you, Felix!” Sylvain butted in, “You’re like, our best swordsman. Not even Dimitri’s as good as you are with a sword,” Felix Scoffed as he angrily speared a chunk of meat with his fork,

“The boar hardly uses swords. His preferred weapon is Lances, we all know that,” Sylvain shrugged,

“Still...” he trailed off as he took a bite of his food,

“So I think it’s been enough minutes now, I’m going up to grab Matthew now,” Ingrid interjected, standing out of her seat,

“Looks like you waited too long, there he is,” Sylvain pointed to one of the doorways into the Dinning hall where Matthew had just walked in, looking slightly tired. Ingrid huffed and sat back down, quickly glancing to where Matthew was,

“He got lucky,” Sylvain left out a short laugh, 

“He really did... I feel sorry for him having t-“ before Sylvain could finish his sentence, Ingrid smacked him, earning a grunt of approval from Felix, “oh come on, Ingrid, Wha-“ Ingrid gave him another smack then quickly stood up, not waiting for any response, and took her plate back up to the dinning hall lady for more food,

“All I was going to say wa-“

“Don’t you even finish that sentence, Sylvain,” Felix interrupted, glaring at Sylvain as he stabbed a piece of meatand put it into his mouth. 


	2. New and old skills

That next day, Matthew had the morning off, mostly to get used to the monastery and the way of living. He toured around the place multiple times then went up to the Library and studied the history even more until Ingrid had to call him down for lunch once again.

After he was finished his lunch, he made his way down to the training hall where he awaited the arrival of Felix. Today was the day he’d learn what weapon worked for him.

“Okay, so you said you were interested in learning how to wield a sword?” Matthew nodded,

“Y-Yeah. I have experience with a weapon back home called a Bayonet, which is kinda like swords... well, maybe more like Lances, actually...” he thought back to the wars he’d been in, and the times he utilized the bayonet on his Musket or Rifle. It wasn’t too often since he soon found that he was quite the sniper and thus he tended to stay back in battles, but it was the only thing he had. When he was found by France, Guns were the weapons and swords and other melee weapons were outdated, “actually... I was a sniper back home, so maybe I could try using a bow and arrow?” Felix raised and eyebrow,

“Will you make up your mind? I can’t teach you Lances or bows, so pick a weapon,” Matthew gulped,

“I... I’d like to start off with Swords and see how good I do,” Felix huffed and rolled his eyes,

“Whatever. Grab a training sword, and I’ll teach you the basics,” Matthew nodded, curious to how it’d go. 

Only about 15 minutes into their training, and Matthew decided that Swords were not his weapon. Sure, he had the speed and nimbleness of a good sword wielder, but he simply had trouble grasping the mechanics of using a sword. Felix has been quite frustrated when Matthew admitted this. So now he was waiting in the training grounds for either Ingrid or Sylvain to come down to teach him Lance basics to see if he was good with Lances,

“Matthew?” Matthew quickly looked up from where he was crouched to see Ingrid walking into the training grounds with a kind smile on her face, “grab a training lance, let’s get to it,,” Matthew nodded,

“R-Right, Thank you,” He picked himself up and went to the weapon rack, taking out a wooden lance. Ingrid took her stance with her own weapon and nodded to Matthew to do the same.

Matthew let out a sigh, 

“Sorry, But I just... I don’t think I’m cut out for Lances,” Matthew interrupted their training session, causing Ingrid to let out a sigh of her own,

“Okay, well, you said you’d also like to try out Bows, right?” He nodded, “I’ll Grab Ashe so you can try out bows,” Matthew nodded and smiled as Ingrid left the training grounds. He quickly placed his Lance back on the rack, then slumped up against the wall next to said rack. He was starting to get worried that he wouldn’t be a good enough fighter with any weapon. He let out an exasperated sigh and put his head in his hands,

“Gods...” He quietly muttered to himself, slumping over even more. He began thinking about his situation once again. He was in some other world. He was away from his country, from his people, from himself,

“M-Matthew?” A kind voice broke his thoughts, and he looked up to see Ashe staring at him in worry, “You ready for your intro to Bows?”

“Of course,” He stood up and wiped away tears he didn’t even notice were forming, and smiled, “let’s begin, eh?” Ashe smiled back and nodded,

“Let’s begin!”

He’d failed once again. He was truly confident that he’d be able to use Bows with success, but after a few minutes of learning Bows, he learnt that aiming with a Bow was so much different than aiming with a Sniper rifle or any other gun he was used to. He, of course, assumed it would be different. They were completely different, and he expected as much, but the difference was way too much for him to grasp. He was quick to tell Ashe since he didn’t want to waste anytime, and the kind young man was quick to smile it off. Ashe was a good kid.

The next person to come in to see him was Annette, the cheerful redhead _(orange-head?)_ that had supposedly summoned him,

“So, I’m going to be teaching you about Axes!” She explained with what Matthew could only assume was her usual cheer, “pick up a training axe right there, and I’ll teach you to wield an axe!” Matthew slowly nodded,

“I... Really don’t think I’ll be good with axes,” he mumbled under his breath,

“What was that?” Annette turned around to look at Matthew,

“It’s nothing. Let’s begin, eh?” Annette have him a smile,

“Yeah!”

Matthew was right. He couldn’t wield axes. They were much too heavy and bulky for him. Sure, he had superhuman strength due to his status as a nation, but he soon found out that his superhuman strength had been weakened to be strength equal to that of a strong human. Ofcourse that meant he was still stronger than an average human, but that didn’t change the fact that axes weren’t his weapon... Okay, maybe he was better at axes than he thought. He supposed he’d used axes before for chopping wood, but he didn’t expect it to transition into battle axes so well,

“You’re doing amazing, Matthew!” Annette speaking broke him from his thoughts, 

“ _Merci,_ Annette,”

“M-Mercy? Why are you saying Mercy?!” Annette suddenly perked up and looked around nervously, then back to Annette, “Do you think I’ll hurt you?! Matth-“

“Annette, Stop,” he held up his hand to quiet Annette down. When he did speak up, he watched as Relief washed over the other’s face with a sigh of relief, “I meant to say Thank you. _Merci_ is a French word, which translates into Thank you,” He began to explain, “I’m unsure if I’ve mentioned this to you, but my first language isn’t English... or whatever you call this language we’re speaking “ Annette’s eyes widened and her mouth made an _‘O’_ shape as she listened to Matthew,“It’s French. My first language was French, so sometimes I just... accidentally speak it. Old habits die hard,” he added with a slight smile. Annette nodded and returned Matthews smile with her own,

“Well, I think that’s enough of a break, let’s continue with working on you footwork!” She clasped her hands together and jumped up for her resting spot with what Matthew has determined was her usual cheer.

By the end of their quick 30 minute long training session, Matthew was pretty confident in himself. He was doing surprisingly well with the axe...  Then Annette asked about magic... He could hardly blame her, she was there when magic was explained to him and she would’ve seen his surprised face and heard his questions,

“So, I know in your world there is no magic, but do you think that maybe you have some magic in you now that you’re here?” Matthew sighed,

“I-It’s possible...” He quietly commented, causing Annette to grin widely, 

“Ooh, You got to let me try and teach you!” She cheered. Matthew quietly groaned, already tired from all the training he’d done in the one day.

As expected, Matthew hardly had any affinity in magic. Albeit it was more than he expected, but it was still hardly anything... Until he accidentally cast a spell called _Nosferatu,_ a supposed healing spell. Annette was very quick to dash out of the training grounds only to come back with Mercedes in tow. She had quickly explained that since he was able to cast a faith spell so well, on accident, that Mercedes was going become his tutor in magic. Annette would be the one helping him train up his axe skills.

So there he was, after almost two hours of trial and error and training, laying on the floor of the Training grounds, catching his breath. He would also need to work on his stamina, since it’d been a while since he’d been in a war.

He continued to practice his magic until Ingrid had to grab him for dinner, once again.

* * *

When Abel woke up, he had hoped he was simply dreaming. That none of the events of the last day were actually real. Unfortunately, when he did wake up, he found himself in a tent. He let out a quiet groan as he stepped out of his tent and spotted Lysithea sitting outside at a table, focused on a book. He shrugged and flipped his scarf around his neck an extra time and took a seat next to the young woman, who shrieked when he sat down next to her,

“ABEL!” She cried, looking at him with disgust, “You nearly scared me to death! I thought you were a ghost!” She paused to look away, then turned back to Abel, “not that Ghosts even exist! It was just a joke! Ghosts obviously aren’t real!” Abel raised an eyebrow,

“Right... so, what are you reading?” He asked, trying to change the subject, pointing to the book she had in front of her,

“Oh, this?” She lifted said book up with a questioning gaze, “It’s a book I found in our supply talking about cultures from around our world,” she explained, “I was hoping I might find something about Netherlands or even other worlds, but so far, no luck...” she started to trail off as she looked to Abel, “We don’t really have much of a book collection, so this was the best I could find,” Abel nodded, 

“Makes sense to me,” Lysithea gave him a grin, 

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to get back to my reading!” 

“Ofcourse, Sorry for brothering you?” Lysithea nodded and went back to her book then looked back up after a second, 

“ _Brothering me?_ ” She repeated confused,

“Did I say it wrong?” Lysithea nodded her head,

“I think you meant to say Sorry for bothering me,” Abel squinted his eyes as he thought, then slowly nodded,

“Right, Right, Right... Sorry, goodbye,”

“Goodbye,”

After that encounter with Lysithea, Abel went back to sleep, once again hoping he’d wake up back in his world. Unfortunately, when he next woke up, it was for Lunch, and It was by Raphael. He was still in this other world.

Lunch was once again nostalgic for him. The way the food was cooked, the unique taste of the food, the community around him... it was almost nice, if not for the fact that he was in another world and away from his people and country.

After lunch was done, he was to train once again with Claude, and so the moment the two of them were done, both picked up wooden swords, and walked off a bit farther away from the campsite so they could spar. 

They were sparing for quite some time. Almost until dinner, in fact. If it wasn’t for Leonie stopping by to tell them that Dinner was almost done, they probably would’ve kept going and skipped dinner, and so Abel was thankful for that. He suspected Claude was, too, but the man was hard to read... There was definitely something, or many things, that the man was hiding, no question about it.

Like the previous times, the dinner he was served was quite good. He thoroughly enjoyed it, and Ignatz, the one who’d cooked, did a pretty good job, especially considering the resources available to him. 

Abel didn’t remember going to sleep, but he supposed he did, since the next thing he knew, a vague, not-quite British accented voice was shouting at him to wake up from outside of his tent. Lorenz, if he recognized the voice correctly,

“ _Ik ben awake, I’m ben wakker!_ ” Abel almost instantly cringed when he realized what he said. Lorenz was quick to reply,

“I-I’m Sorry, could you perhaps repeat that, Abel?” Abel groaned as he sat himself up,

“Sorry, uh, I got English and Dutch mixed up, I meant to say that I was awake,” He could almost hear Lorenz’s confusion,

“Very well...” Lorenz cleared his throat, “Breakfast is ready, You should eat,” Abel went to speak up, only for him to forget the English words he wanted in the moment. Just as he found the words, he heard footsteps, presumably Lorenz’s, walking away from his tent, leaving him alone. 

* * *

When Matthew woke up, he didn’t expect to be woken up by Dimitri. The man was standing over him, almost menacingly, above his bed, looking down on him, gently shaking him awake, 

“ _Quoi?_ ” Matthew questioned, then immediately cursed himself for accidentally speaking French, “Sorry, I, uh, What is it, Dimitri?” He asked, trying to recollect himself. He slowly brought himself up, and sat up against the bed board, looking up at Dimitri as the tall man continued to stare him down, “Dimitri? Is there so-“

“I want to see you fight,” Matthew raised an eyebrow,

“You know I only just started yesterday, I’m not nearly good enough,” 

“I never said I wanted to fight you, I said I wanted to watch you fight. When you go to train with Annette today, I want to watch you,” Matthew tilted his head to the side, slightly confused, 

“I- Okay, yeah, well, I’ll see you then, eh?” Dimitri simply grunted and turned around, closing the door behind him, leaving Matthew alone in his room.

  
After Matthew had his breakfast, it was down to the training grounds for him. Annette was already waiting for him there, as was Dimitri. He gulped when he realized that Dimitri was going to be watching him. It never really dawned on him until that moment, but Dimitri was going to be watching him. Somehow, the thought of Dimitri actually watching him had slipped his mind. He took in a deep breath as he grabbed an axe of the weapon rack and took his stance, making sure his footwork was correct. He then tightened his grip and made sure he was holding it correctly as well, then, lastly, he readied himself for Annette. _Today, they were Sparring._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y’all are okay with what I made Matthew’s weapon of choice!  
> Quick question! Should I give the Nations a unique type of Crest, or should they stay Crestless?


	3. Journey begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so, it’s been a hot minute, hasn’t it?  
> Yeah, well, I’m back, bitch  
> I just realized I got a comment on the previous chapter back in December, and that gave me enough of a boost in motivation to finally finish this chapter, so let it be known that your comments fuel me  
> Anyway, here is the long awaited third chapter!!!! <3

Annette was very obviously excited. Matthew... Less so. After all his late nights in the library, he was much better acquainted with the existence of Crests. A Crest was something of a genetic mutation that some people could inherit, though the possibility of being able to have one, and then the possibility of actually having one, made them extremely rare. Annette had a Crest, the Crest of Dominic, which she inherited from her ancestor. Sure, her crest increased her affinity with magic, and he knew he and Annette would both be using axes, but the anxiety still lingered. 

Still, When Dimitri called for them to begin, they did. 

Matthew found himself dodging more often than actually attacking, and on a few occasions he caught glimpses of Annette readying a spell before stopping herself. Annette was however, without a doubt, winning their spar. She’d managed to get a hit on him a few times despite his apparent agility, while he had only gotten her once at the beginning. Soon enough though, He miscalculated a dodge, and his was on the ground, a wooden axe blade to his throat with Annette standing over him,

“I... I Yield...” He managed to say through his heavy breathing. Annette let out a loud breath of relief and lifted her axe, placing it back on the weapon rack,

“You have progressed well in such little time, Matthew,” He jumped at Dimitri’s suddenly voice from behind him as he was dusting himself off,

“T-Thank you!” Dimitri gave a nod in response and then left, leaving just him and the two guards who stood at the doorway. 

* * *

Abel was sitting in his tent, trying his best to use his sixth sense, when Hilda’s voice sounded from right outside his tent and he could see her silhouette through the cloth,

“Claude is gonna be leaving for a little bit, he’s asking some people go with him, do you want to go?” Abel, confused, stepped out of his tent to look at Hilda, “He said he’s going to get reinforcements. Do you want to go with him?” 

“Why me?” Hilda shrugged,

“He asked me to ask everyone,” Abel sighed, 

“I... I suppose I will go...” Hilda’s face lit up and she clapped her hands together,

“Perfect! I’ll go tell him! He’s just getting his Wyvern ready!” And with that... Hilda was gone. What had he just signed himself up to...

  
  


“You are sure you want to join me, Abel?” Claude asked again,

“ _Ja,_ I am sure,” the darker man sighed and turned to his Wyvern, tightening the bags that he was carrying, 

“Very well, I suppose I’ll just have to let you,” Abel nodded, “You can take one of the horses over there,” Claude pointed to the makeshift horse stables were a few spare horses stood. He gave a nod, and took one of the incredibly furry horses out and began tacking it up. _Saddle, check. Bridle? Check. Stirrups? He’d have to figure that out later. Reins? Check. Girth? Check. Hooves cleaned? Check_. Everything seemed to be in order, so he began strapping his luggage onto the horse and then he hauled himself onto the horse and fixed up his stirrups,

“I’m ready to go now, Claude” Claude nodded to him and mounted himself onto the Wyvern,

“Let us get going then. Ignatz?” The small green boy made a quiet squeak noise and looked up to Claude,

“Y-Yes, Claude?”

“Make sure this find it’s way to Dimitri. Do not let the Empire get their hands on it,” Ignatz gave a nervous nod as he took the small scroll from Claude’s hands and ran off to do who knew what, “Alright, off we go,”

* * *

The next few days went by pretty quick for Matthew. It was mostly just more training with Annette and Mercedes and long nights in the library, reading everything he could about this world. It suddenly picked up when a young man from the Alliance was found at the doors to the monastery, requesting to speak with Dimitri. The poor man was exhausted, panting heavily, clad in a pale green cloak and large, round glass, similar to his own. He found it strange that after being denied access by the guards, Ashe had been the one to order the guards to allow him in. 

Matthew watched as Ashe escorted the green man to the dining hall, trying to help him calm down.

Matthew later learnt that the man was actually a former classmate to the people he could now consider his acquaintances. His name was Ignatz, and was fighting in the same war on a different side, though not an enemy side. He was with the Alliance, as it turned out, an Ally of the kingdom, and after Ashe recognized him as not only an old friend but an ally, he allowed him to join them. As it turned out, Ignatz was at the monastery to deliver an important message from the Alliance leader, Claude. 

That was perhaps the most hectic day he’d had so far. Claude was requesting back up at Derdriu, the capital of the Alliance, where the Empire was attempting to invade. Strangely enough, Dimitri was enthusiastic to lend his aid. Preparations were made that afternoon, and everyone went to sleep early to prepare for the long journey to Derdriu. They were going to go help Claude and the Alliance. 

And he was going to be joining them.

* * *

The journey to wherever Claude was taking him was done in relative silence. Claude didn’t speak, and Abel didn’t tend to speak unless spoken to, so it was quiet. When the sun began setting, Claude hopped off his wyvern, which he had learnt was named Cherry, and began to set up a small tent, 

“You should probably set up your tent, too, Abel,” Abel nodded and unmounted from his horse, pulling off the pack with the tent in it, “Say, Abel...” Claude was now done with his tent, but Abel continued working on his as he nodded, “You say you are from another world, and judging from your reactions to wyverns and magic and such, I see a reason to believe you, But that doesn’t mean I trust you, alright? I do not trust easily, let it be known. Should you be an Imperial spy, I’ll have myself dead before you can take me alive, and I’ll have you dead before you can kill me, understand?” Abel was taken aback by the sudden seriousness in Claude’s tone. He gave a slow nod, and Claude simply sighed, “Good... Now, Rations...”

The next few days went by relatively the same. Claude occasionally tried to spark conversation, but Abel tried to turn it down every time, that was, until Claude asked a strange question,

“Is your name even Abel?” 

“I-I’m sorry, Is m-“

“Is Abel your real name?” Abel shook his head hesitantly. That was hard to say. While, yes, he referred to himself as Abel, to many others he was the Netherlands. He still was the Netherlands, or at least he thought so. His sixth sense was no longer present, it was hard to tell,

“Of course Abel is my real name,” Claude glared at him accusingly, then looked away,

“Is Claude your real name?” That got him,

“Excuse me?” Claude’s face was briefly one of panic, hardly even a second. That was one thing Abel noticed about the man. He was remarkably well at hiding his emotions. He had such a well crafted mask that he wore, and Abel had never seen it crack for more then a second, “Yes, my real name is Claude! What else would it be?” Abel shrugged,

“I do not know. If my name isn’t Abel, then what would it be?” Claude rolled his eyes,

“Okay, That’s fair...” 

After some more quiet days on the road, Abel and Claude arrived at what Claude called Fódlan’s throat. There, Claude told him to wait. He initially tried to oppose Claude, but he ended up obeying his orders in the end. Two more days passed and he was beginning to get worried for Claude when he was awoken by loud cheering coming from over the mountains. Well, There were the reinforcements Claude was talking about, but he was confused as to where they came from. When Claude was finally reunited with him, he was instantly told to say nothing. So, he said nothing, and he and Claude started another Journey West, away from Fódlan’s throat, this time with reinforcements.

* * *

The journey to Derdriu was going to be long, and exhausting. Only a select few people were joining Dimitri to meet up with Claude, and he was one of them. Among him and Dimitri, was Ignatz, Slyvain, Mercedes, Felix, and Ashe, along with a few battalions and guards. 

The first day consisted of a lot of worrying m. Ashe and Ignatz kept bouncing off ridiculous ideas off each other, and Mercedes had to keep jumping in to reassure the two young men. Sylvain continued his usual behaviour of Flirting with everyone, and Felix continued admonishing him for it. He and Dimitri sort of just watched it happen awkwardly as they walked, side by side.

Matthew was woken up that next day but a loud thud, followed by an even louder crash, like a tree falling to the ground. He stepped out of his tent when some strange growling followed the crash, only to see Dimitri breathing heavily and hunched over a tress stump, staring at his hands,

“D-Dimitri?” He slowly approached the man, keeping in mind the things he’d learnt about him so far. Dimitri had the Crest of Blaiddyd, which gave him inhuman strength. Dimitri believed himself to be haunted by the ghosts of his dead family. Dimitri is known to loose himself in bloodlust. Dimitri has an animalistic side he cannot control. He continued to approach Dimitri when he made no signs of trying to push him away, “Dimitri? Are you al-“ Before Matthew could even finish his sentence, one of Dimitri’s hands was gripped around his throat and he was flung to the ground, pinned under the weight of Dimitri. He couldn’t breathe, and he felt himself going weak as he struggled to pull Dimitri off. His vision continued to fade in and out, then... A crack. A very loud snap rang out in his ears, and he flinched when he heard it. That... Was his spine. It was his last thought before his vision completely blanked, and the last thing he heard was something about Dimitri being a Boar.

When he next opened his eyes, Mercedes standing over him was the first thing he took in. Then, Ashe, Ignatz, Felix and Sylvain, all gathered around him, all with their own looks of terror and worry on their face,

“Matthew...” Mercedes’s usual soft voice was now slightly more authoritative. She sounded like a mom, “How... What... No, It’s...” Mercedes sighed, and glanced to the others, “Do you have a crest?” Matthew slowly sat up, still feeling the pain of his now healed spine,

“I do not believe so, no...” Felix’s face contorted to one of confusion, while both Ashe and Ignatz exchanged stares of Concern,

“Then... How is it you healed so quickly?” _Shit._ He forgot about that.

“I, Uh...” Mercedes look him in the eyes, the worry and concern in her face soul crushing, “I’ve been practicing my Faith Magic on my own. W-When I felt my back break, I casted a spell to heal it right away,” Felix scoffed and got up,

“I’m gone, I can’t deal with this!” 

“Hey, Felix, Wait!” Slyvain quickly stood up, chasing after Felix as he left,

“Matthew... You shouldn’t be able to speak anymore. Dimitri, He... He broke your windpipe and damaged your voice box. You can’t heal an injury you didn’t know about. I’ll believe you healing your back, you’ve proved yourself skilled in that, but you can’t heal something you were unaware of...” Well, there goes his excuse, “The only explanation would be if you had a healing type Crest,” Matthew nodded,

“I-It’s possible I do have a crest, but I don’t know,” Ignatz sighed, but Matthew ignored it to continue looking at Mercedes who nodded,

“Unfortunately, the device used for revealing Crests is at the monastery and we cannot turn back... For now, I... I will accept that explanation...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, I’m kinda fussing Chapter 19 (The Golden Deer’s Pleas) from Azure Moon with Chapter 18 (The Golden Scheme) from Verdant Wind.  
> Basically:  
> In Verdant Wind, Claude takes fort Merceus with Reinforcements from Alymra.  
> In Azure Moom, Claude requests help retaking Derdriu with Dimitri.  
> What I’m doing, is basically:  
> In this, Claude is taking Alymran Reinforcements to Derdriu to take it back *and* He has requested Dimitri’s help


	4. Before Battle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this chapter longer than usual? Yes.  
> Is there Angst? Oh, definitely  
> Is there fluff? Of course there is!
> 
> Quick warning; Matthew has a panic attack and it’s sorta described. I haven’t had a panic attack in a while so some of the details may be wrong or missing, and I’m just not too confident in my writing, so it shouldn’t be too much detail or whatever, but just in case, here’s my warning!

The rest of the long trek to Derdriu was relatively quiet. Ashe and Ignatz continued their friendly chatting with their accompanying soldiers, Sylvain has moved on to flirt with Felix, and Felix had moved on to physical violence to get him to stop. Mercedes continued to be the one to break them up while everyone else walked in relative peace, Dimitri being the most silent of them all, and understandably so. Matthew tried to stick to near the end of the group, where a cheerful looking guard was walking. He was desperately trying to start a conversation with a soldier. Matthew thought he recognized him, so he fell back further and smiled to the man once they were next to each other,  
“Hello,” Matthew greeted, “I’ve seen you before, but I don’t believe we’ve been introduced. My name is Matthew,” he held out his hand, and the man’s face lit up as he enthusiastically took his hand and shook it,  
“Nice to meet you, Matthew! You can call me The Gatekeeper!” His voice was unbelievably cheery, and Matthew couldn’t help but begin to feel himself grow more optimistic in his presence,  
“Do you not have a, uh... A-A proper name? Gatekeeper seems a bit, uh...Well, It-“  
“Just call me The Gatekeeper, Good Sir!”  
“O-Oh, I... Don’t call me Sir, just call me Matthew, please,” The Gatekeeper smiled and shook his head,  
“But I can do that! That wouldn’t be proper, now, would it, Good Sir?” Matthew sighed,  
“How about you can call me Mr. Williams?” The Gatekeeper was quiet for a moment, thinking,  
“I’ll call you Sir Williams!” Matthew blinked, confused, then reluctantly nodded his head slowly,  
“F-Fine, You... You can call me Sir Williams...” The Gatekeeper’s barely visible eyes lit up as he clapped his hands together in celebration,  
“Perfect! It is nice to meet you, Sir Williams!” Matthew gave a nod,  
“And the same to you, Gatekeeper,” Gatekeeper smiled widely then turned his attention forward, humming a very quiet tune to himself. It was a slow song, with lyrics that Matthew wasn’t quite able to make out, mostly due to the Gatekeeper muttering the lyrics, but it seemed important to the man, so he let him continue to hum his tune.

* * *

The rest of the ride to Derdriu was pretty uneventful. The reinforcements, which ended up being from The Alliance’s neighbouring kingdom, Almyra, spoke a language of their own, though it sounded like a language Abel had heard. He recognized maybe a word or two, but he had no idea what the words he recognized meant, so any hope for understanding them was lost. Luckily a few of them did speak English, or as it was called here, Fódlani. Not many of them did, and the ones that seemed to know Fódlani weren’t using it to speak to him. At least, not politely. He recalled multiple occasions when an Almyran soldier had cursed him out in English- Fódlani, he corrected himself- and he could recall even more occasions in which he was presumably cursed out in their language. He could only assume they were cursing him out since he didn’t actually understand, but based on the snickers and glares he got, he figured it was safe to assume they were swearing at him. The only ones who were speaking with him was an older, burly, heavily scarred man called Nader, and a smaller, younger man called Yousuf. Nader was staying close to Claude, talking animatedly with him, while Yousuf had resigned himself to riding next to Abel. It was how Abel came to learn about Yousuf and how he was actually able and willing to speak with him. Yousuf was a king young man, but Abel could see that he was wearing a mask, much like Claude was. It was façade, though a lot more obvious then Claude’s. He noticed Yousuf’s façade after just an hour of speaking, whereas it took him two days to figure out Claude was wearing a carefully crafted façade. Despite that, Abel allowed the young man to ramble on.

Another few days, and Claude stopped them at a the edge of a forest. Quite some ways away, just barely in view, was what Abel assumed to be Derdriu. And just a few hundred feet to their left, was Hilda with Marianne, Raphael and Leonie. Claude waved and quickly dismounted from his Wyvern and ran over to hug Hilda, and greet the others. Abel couldn’t quite hear what they were saying because of the chatter from the Alymrans, but he was able to make out a few words, like “Ailell”, “Judith Von Daphnel” and something about a Monastery. A few more minutes passed, and Claude came back, and, in what Abel could only assume was perfect Alymran, announced to the reinforcements... Something. The way he spoke the Alymran was exactly like the others, They accent was the same, maybe a bit skewed, but otherwise identical. Yes, he’d heard Claude tell them things in Alymran, but it was never in big sentences. Now, It sounded like Claude was straight up lecturing them, and strangely, they were all silent as they listened to him. Claude spoke to them for about five minutes until he turned back to Hilda and the others,  
“Well, Set up camp, we await Dimitri’s arrival, now,” Hilda nodded and turned to Raphael who smiled and began unpacking bags from their horses they had brought.

By the time all the tents were set up, it was beginning to get dark, and he could see lights turning on in the guard towers in Derdriu. Claude advised them not to Start any fires, lest the light or smoke alert the Imperial soldiers in Derdriu. That night, they had to eat bread with fruits and veggies because they were unable to cook any meat. Abel turned in early, getting into his tent before anyone else and falling asleep.

* * *

“We’re going to be arriving at the meeting point soon,” Dimitri announced while everyone finished packing their things back up. Most people nodded or gave a slight noise of acknowledgment as they continued packing up. Within just a few more minutes, They did one last check and continued his journey.  
It was when Matthew was walking next to Mercedes, listening to her recount tales of her and Annette’s friendship, when it suddenly hit him. _Abel. He didn’t know where Abel was. And Alfred. And Arthur. And Francis. And Kiku. And Katyusha. And-And-_  
He felt his chest tighten with the realization, his mind racing with so much concern for himself and everyone else back home. _Was he leaving behind the others? Had anytime even passed back home? Did home even exist anymore?_ His thoughts were everywhere, and suddenly the sunlit filtering through the leaves became too much, the soft dirt he was standing on felt like quick sand, his legs felt they could give way at any moment, and his vision kept fading, things being a lot more blurry then they should. _Did his glasses come off? Who took them off? Did he take them off? Where were his glasses_? He knew he was panicking, people were probably gathered around him, looking down at him, curious, and- _Since when was he on the ground? He didn’t remember sitting down, but he was apparently sitting down._ He couldn’t breath, even taking in a breath was difficult. His lungs felt contracted, like they were refusing air, and no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t get any air in. He also couldn’t hear, he just noticed. He must’ve been so focused on everything else, but his ears were ringing, the sound of the wind and leaves rustling overwhelming him when it was previously just background noise. He leaned forward, trying to take in more breaths, his mind racing through every possible thing he could be thinking about, when he suddenly felt a soft touch on his shoulder. He recoiled at the touch, still too overwhelmed by everything. He looked up to see Mercedes looking at him very worriedly, her face contorted with concern. He watched as her lips moved, but all Matthew could make out was the rustling of the leaves and the loud ringing in his ears. He shook his head, and hunched over even further, Still struggling to breath,  
“Matthew?” _Mercedes?_ He was able to catch her voice that time, so he looked back up to her, “Very good, Now, you need to calm yourself down, alright?” Her voice was very soft and gentle, not too loud and but also not too quiet, “Deep breaths in, deep breaths out, Matthew,” She spoke quietly, and Matthew tried, he really did, but every time he took in a breath it felt like no oxygen was taken in. He tried to take in a deep breath, but the lack of air made it hard for him, so he tried to slowly let what little air he had left out. Then he tried to breath back in, slowly. His chest was still tight, but Mercedes helped walk him through it, her mind and gentle voice helping to soothe him. Eventually, He was back to breathing normally, and he felt no longer overwhelmed, “What happened, Matthew? What triggered that to happen?” He could already feel his breathing begin to pick up as he tried to answer the question,  
“I-I-I don’t... I don’t know... Don’t know, I... I don’t know... I was just... I...” He felt Mercedes’s hand on his shoulder again,  
“It’s okay, Matthew, What were you thinking when it happened?”  
“I-I... I just... It just suddenly hit me all at once T-That I may never see my friends or f-family again. What if I’ve been gone for months? Has time even passed back home? Does home even exist anymore? I-It just... It just suddenly hit me, I-I... I...”  
“It’s okay, Matthew, Take your time. You don’t have to say anything else if you don’t want to, Alright?” Matthew gave a nod, “While I can’t say I understand your situation, I definitely have sympathy for you. Once this is over, we’ll help you find a way to get back home, I promise you...” Matthew slowly dipped his head, and pushed himself off the ground. Mercedes rose with him, and Matthew finally took notice of the others who were standing around them. Ashe was staring at him with immense worry, as was Ignatz and pretty much everyone else. The only person he couldn’t see showing worry was Dimitri, who instead seemed more scared than anything else, his one eye widened in horror at Matthew’s sudden breakdown. He dusted himself off and picked up his bag, facing Dimitri,  
“W-We can continue now. I’m sorry for the delay,” Dimitri made a huff of acknowledgment and turned and walked away, everyone else picking their own bags up and starting to walk once again. He was a bit blown away by how quickly everyone shrugged his breakdown off, but he was also thankful. He didn’t really want to linger on it, and the fact most of them were ignoring him, made it easier to forget about it.

That night, just as the sun was setting, Dimitri had everyone halt and he continued forward, leaving them temporarily leaderless. Well, Not Leaderless, he had put Mercedes in charge until he came back, which ended up being just a few minutes.  
When Dimitri came back, His usual perpetual grimace was less pronounced,  
“We have arrived, everyone. Follow me, Claude’s camp is just up ahead,” Everyone was quiet as Dimitri turned around and started walking the same direction he came. They all followed him, and there they were greeted by what Matthew thought was a darker skinned man. It was hard to tell with how dark it was, but he seemed to be dressed in yellow and black _(maybe gray?)_ fabric, as opposed to the Black and Blue that Dimitri wore. There were quite a few other men and even a few women scattered around the camp, with only very small and dim lamps lit here or there,  
“I’m so glad you came, Dima, I was counting on you,” Claude gave a fond smile to Dimitri as he took Dimitri’s hand from his side and shook it, before pulling Dimitri in for a hug, “Thank yo- Wait, no,” He stopped himself mid sentence to gently push Dimitri away, “Forgot you don’t like physical contact...” Claude coughed awkwardly, and Matthew’s attention was stolen away by a massive blond man running up to Ignatz and picking him up and squeezing him with a hug. Ignatz nervously laughed and hugged the big man back,  
“Hey Raph, I wasn’t gone for that long,”  
“You were gone for at least a week!” Ignatz shrugged, leaning into the man, presumably Raph,  
“You had Leonie and Lysithea,” Raph shook his head,  
“No, we left a little after you did, and Lysithea didn’t come,” Ignatz chuckled,  
“What about Leonie?”  
“This isn’t about Leonie! Let me be happy that you’re back!” Ignatz sighed,  
“Fine, Fine...” Matthew couldn’t help but smile fondly at their interaction. The two of them were very clearly close, and he was glad they were able to be together again. His attention was once again grabbed by Dimitri groaning loudly. He whipped his head around to see what was making Dimitri vocalize like that, only to see he was still speaking with Claude, the leader of the Alliance,  
“How did you even manage to get Alymra to agree to send reinforcements? Y-You...” Claude seemed to be smiling smugly in the nearby low light, “First, you had to enter Alymra, which is already hard. T-Then you had to get to civilization in Almyra without being targeted for being Fódlani, Then Y-You... You had to not only get into the capital, but you had to convince the king to have an Audience with you...” Matthew could see Claude’s face getting increasingly more proud while Dimitri was very visibly and audibly confused and angry, “Then, once you had an audience with the King, You had to convince him to lend you reinforcements; and to do that y-you’d have to explain this situation And...” Dimitri groaned again and Claude chuckled, “How did you do it, Claude?” Claude shrugged, the smile on his face only getting wider,  
“That’s for me to know!” Dimitri sighed,  
“I don’t even know the Alymran King’s name, for Goddess sake, Claude!” Matthew was admittedly very curious, but he had to stop himself from eavesdropping, especially when he was doing it so obviously. He shrugged his bag off and set his tent up, very tired from the long day he had had. They were probably going to launch their attack the next day, and he needed a good nights sleep for something like that.

* * *

Hilda was Nervous. She wasn’t going to tell anyone, of course she wouldn’t. She may be a delicate little flower, but nervousness was a weakness she knew she couldn’t show. She wasn’t like Marianne, who’s constant state of being was nervous. Luckily, over the past five years, Marianne had gotten better at dealing with it, and so had Hilda. While she didn’t really understand it, the five years spent with Marianne helped her know what to do to help, and she was always willing to help. It was also nice that the two of them happened to make a great team in battle, which only helped them get even closer. Marianne had saved her life multiple times in battle, and Marianne had praised her multiple times for saving her life, too. She wasn’t quite sure about her saving Marianne’s life, but she knew Marianne had saved her on multiple accounts.  
It was one reason why the two of them shared their tent. They were very close, and Hilda didn’t really want to share a tent with anyone. Marianne was the same, and since they were already pretty close, they decided then to share a tent. They only had a limited amount, and so sharing was required, and with everyone else already with a tent mate, well, it helped them get even closer. Hilda was glad for that, and she imagined Marianne was the same.

* * *

After Claude noticed Matthew had left, He pulled Dimitri aside, bringing him further into the forest. Dimitri tried speaking as Claude pulled his away, but he kept shushing him. When he knew no one was nearby and they had their privacy, He let Dimitri finally speak,  
“What is it, Claude?”  
“Dima, I need t-“  
“Claude, Are you going to tell me how you managed to get Alymran reinforcements?” Claude sighed. He’d hoped Dimitri was done asking about that,  
“Listen, Dima, I n-“  
“Why do you insist on calling me **_Dima_**? Everyone else calls me Dimitri,” Claude rolled his eyes,  
“Would you rather I go back to calling you **_Your Princeliness_**?” He grinned when he saw Dimitri begin to get flustered, “Or I guess I should be calling you **_Your Kingliness_** , now, shouldn’t I?” Dimitri groaned,  
“Why can you not just call me by my name?” Claude shrugged,  
“Should I use **_Mitya_** instead?” Dimitri’s face quickly reddened and he took a few steps back,  
“W-Where did you hear that?” Claude couldn’t help but laugh, finding the strangely vulnerable position he had Dimitri in funny,  
“Mitya is the ancient derivative of Dimitri, is it not?”  
“W-Well, Yeah, bu-“  
“Then what’s wrong with using Mitya for you?” Claude grinned, satisfied with Dimitri’s confusion,  
“Why do are you so insistent to call me anything other than my name?” Claude sighed, and leaned against a nearby tree, continuing to carefully observe Dimitri’s confused state,  
“That’s not the point, Dima!” He could begin to feel himself getting frustrated with this conversation. He enjoyed pet names, that was it. He slid down further against the tree, letting himself fall to the ground. Dimitri hesitated a moment before bringing himself down to the ground as well, sitting across from Claude, “I pulled you away from everyone for a reason, alright? Can I please-?” Dimitri grunted as he nodded,  
“Go ahead, Claude...” Claude took in a deep breath and let it out after holding it briefly,  
“I... How have you been? I haven’t seen you since Gronder, and you, well...” Claude trialled off, not liking having to recall the memory of Dimitri’s state back then. He noticed the slight tremble that wracked Dimitri’s body the moment he asked the question,  
“I... I... T-That’s... Claude, I... You can see I’m better, can’t you?”  
“Yes, But I need to hear it from you, alright? I know...” Claude paused, trying his best to maintain his mask,  
“Claude?” He looked up to Dimitri who had shuffled closer to him, his face one of worry, “You look like you have more to say...” Claude slowly nodded, still debating what to say that wouldn’t Crack his façade. He spent years upholding it, and yet Dimitri was the breaking point for him, making it so hard for him to continue with it, “Claude? A-Are you alright?” He heard more shuffling and Dimitri was sitting next to him, still keeping his distance,  
“I... Dima, It’s... I... There are things I need to tell you, But I just can’t... I...” Claude paused to look up and catch Dimitri’s worried face looking right back at him, “I’m not always Truthful, you probably know that,” Dimitri nodded, “But I haven’t been truthful about myself, or my plans,” Claude didn’t need to look at Dimitri to know he was being looked at with concern, “I... I haven’t talked about... Myself... In so long... And I... I can’t tell you anything, not yet, but I promise when this war is over, I will explain everything to you, alright?” Dimitri was still staring at him, concerned, “I don’t want to harm anyone or anything. I’m still your Ally, and hopefully... Your friend,” Claude did his best to smile reassuringly to Dimitri,  
“Mm...” Dimitri simply gave a small grunt back, and rested his head on Claude’s Shoulder,  
“D-Dima? Wh-What?” He slowly tried to push Dimitri off when he could feel his face heat up with a blush, and he was thankful for the darkness and the fact Dimitri’s eye was closed, “Dima, We have to get back to camp...”  
“Mmm... Right, Sorry, I-I’m... I’m very tired,” Claude nervously pushed Dimitri off of him. Dimitri stumbled as he stood back up, and Claude helped him stabilize himself. Dimitri gave him a kind smile and they separated as they walked back to the camp.

* * *

When Ignatz arrived with the rest of the group, he was quick to join Raphael and then the others. Apparently there were two people from different worlds. What if they were from the same world? Did they know each other? He wanted to ask, but apparently Abel turned in early and he didn’t want to wake him up and he couldn’t find Matthew anywhere,  
“Leonie?” The redhead jumped at Igntaz’s voice,  
“Ignatz?” He nodded,  
“Yeah... Uh, Has Abel mentioned another person that he knew? Maybe a man called Matthew?” Leonie stared at him weirdly and slowly shook her head,  
“No? Why?” Ignatz sighed,  
“There’s another guy from another world with Dimitri’s group, called Matthew. I was just curious about if they might know each other...” Leonie gave a shrug,  
“We’ll figure that out in the morning,”

* * *

When morning came, Matthew was still very tired. He felt very out of it, just not enough energy. He hated it. But he dealt with it. He’d dealt with worse, anyway, a bit of drowsiness was nothing. He reluctantly pulled himself off of his sleeping mat and dressed himself in the new, Kingdom garb he had been loaned. He wasn’t sure he quite liked the blue colours. It was strange. Out of him, Alfred, Francis and Arthur, he was the only one without blue on his flag. It’d been there at one point, when he still had Arthur’s Royal union flag, but that was when he was still a dominion. When he was still wholly Arthur’s. It wasn’t that he had bad memories of being under Arthur’s care, Arthur had treated him well enough, it was just he’d created better memories when he was his own.  
He finished putting on the blue outfit, and couldn’t help thinking about how He much preferred Red, White or Purple. He knew he was fighting with the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, so he’d have to settle with the blue since it was their colours, but he’d become so used to his red and white.  
Another thing that just hit him. He was going to be wearing colourful clothing into a battle. He hadn’t worn something so colourful into battle since the early 1800s. It felt almost weird to be wearing something so bright and knowing it would most definitely be ruined by blood. He shrugged the thoughts away, and made sure he was comfortable in the blue outfit then he stepped out. Most of the Alymran troupes were already up and eating their food, and some of the people he’d walked with were out as well. He spotted the Gatekeeper sitting patiently on a log, his helmet off for a change, allowing Matthew to finally take in the man’s appearance. It was just about what he could guess, but the man did have strange, messy, pale green hair. He’d long ago accepted that people here just had unnatural hair colours, so it really didn’t shock him too much, but the green hair seemed out of place on the man’s head,  
“Hello, Gatekeeper,” He sat down next to him, and the Gatekeeper,  
“Greeting, Sir Williams!” Matthew almost winced at the way he was addressed. He’d forgotten they’d agreed on that, “How has your morning been so far?!” He smiled,  
“I’m quite tired, not too confident I’ll do very well in the battle...” Gatekeepers smile faltered briefly,  
“You’ll do great, I’m sure of it! You do your job on the battlefield against the empire, And I’ll do my job protecting the camp!” Matthew couldn’t help but smile at his infectious enthusiasm,  
“Thank you, I’m glad you have faith in me,” Gatekeeper smiled back, and tipped his head back to take a sip from the mug he was holding,  
“Is that Coffee?” The Gatekeeper nodded,  
“Yep! Alicia over there brought some with her! She’ll give you some of you just ask!” Matthew nodded,  
“I will do that then, thank you,”  
“Of course, Sir Williams!”

* * *

Abel was rudely awoken by his tent loudly flapping, no thanks to Hilda violently jabbing it,  
“Hey, You awake yet?! Hurry up! You gotta eat before we head in! Not much time left! Hurry up!” Abel groaned as he sat up,  
“ _Ik ben wakker, alsjeblieft..._ Stop... You’re... _Luidruchtig_... I mean _luid_... I mean... I’m _wakker_... Awake... auughhh... I’m awake...” He heard Hilda laugh loudly, most definitely at him mixing up his languages in his sleepiness,  
“Alright, well, you still sound half asleep, so hurry up!” He then heard Hilda’s footsteps get further and further away, and Abel could only assume she was going to go with Marianne. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he propped himself up on his shoulders, and looked around his small tent. _That’s right, battle._ They were going to take back Derdriu today. He let out a breath as he stood up in his tent, at least, a far as he could stand. It was more of a crouch, the tent really didn’t leave much room for standing, and he got himself dressed in his usual clothes, wrapping his scarf around himself last. He took in a breath, and calmly let it out as he opened his tent and stepped outside.

The first thing Abel noticed when he stepped outside was It was brighter than he thought it was. The second thing he noticed was that he seemed to be the last one to wake up. There was so many people around the camp. The next thing he noticed was Ignatz waving to him as the shorter man slowly approached him,  
“Ignatz?” The green man nodded his head and nervously smiled,  
“That’s me, yes. I-I... Would you perhaps know anyone by the name of, uh... Matthew?” Abel couldn’t help but widen his eyes at the mention of Matthew,  
“Why do you ask?”  
“W-Well, Dimitri’s group also found a man claiming to be from another world, and his n-name is Matthew. I was just wondering i-if you might k-know him,” Abel tucked his face down into his scarf in an attempt to hide his face and the joy he was no doubt showing,  
“Y-Yes, I do...” Ignatz’s face lit up, his face suddenly less nervous,  
“Then let me take you to meet him!” Abel nodded and Ignatz motioned for Abel to follow, which he did. Ignatz brought him over to a group of logs laid on the ground where a bunch of men and women were sitting, talking to each other, “Last I saw him, he was talking with the Gatekeeper...” Abel listened intently to Ignatz speak, “hmmm...” Ignatz scanned the area, looking for Matthew, and Abel did the same.

  
Then, he caught that pale blond hair out of the corner of his eye. Matthew. He rushed over, Keeping his gaze on the man who was undoubtedly Matthew. He might be wearing blue, but that pale blond hair and build was unmistakable,  
“M-Matthew!” He cursed himself for stuttering, but reminded himself that Matthew was okay to be vulnerable with. One of the very few. At the mention of his name, Matthew quickly whipped around, and Abel was face to face with Purple-blue eyes shielded by large, round glasses, “Mijn snoepje...” Matthew remained silent as they looked at each other, taking in each other’s features. Abel slowly reached for Matthew’s hand, taking it in his own. Matthew continued staring at him, and that was when Abel noticed Tears beginning to prick his eyes, “M-Matthew?” Matthew leaned forward and sniffled, whipping his tears with his sleeves,  
“ _J'ai eu les shakes..._ ”  
“Matthew... English?” Matthew gave him a strange look,  
“ _Désolé_ , uh... _J- Non_... I... It’s... Uh...” Abel should’ve expected Matthew to struggle with his words when they reunited,  
“Take your time,” Matthew subtly nodded and closed his eyes, thinking,  
“ _Je_... No... I... _Seul_... Alone... I was... I thought I was Alone...” Matthew let out a breath, and leaned more into Abel,  
“It’s okay, Matthew, We... We’ll find a way to get back home...”  
“I... I hope so... I really do...” Abel pulled Matthew in the rest of the way to him into a hug, gently rubbing his back to help calm him, “A-At least we’re uh... _ensemble_... uh... what was it... I...” Matthew chuckled dryly, “I hardly ever mix up words or forget them anymore, uh...”  
“Together?” Matthew quickly pushed away from their hug and looked to Abel, smiling as he nodded,  
“Yes! At least we’re together, now!”  
“Everyone grab your weapons and get into your battalions! We enter in a few minutes!” Both Abel and Matthew looked away to see Dimitri announcing to everyone, with Claude by his side. The Alymrans looked to Dimitri confused, then turned to Claude expectantly. He sighed and took in a deep breath, and said something in Alymran that Abel didn’t understand. He could only assume that he had just translated what Dimitri had said,  
“Well... We can talk more after this battle...” Matthew nodded and gave him one last hug before turning away, “ _Succes, Mijn snoepje,_ ”  
“ _Mon Cher, Bonne chance,_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to clarify the relationships!  
> Matthew and Abel are already dating! They’re boyfriends and they’ve been together for a few years at this point!  
> Dimitri and Claude are mutually pining for each other. They aren’t together yet, but the feelings are there!  
> Marianne and Hilda aren’t quite sure what they are. They are most definitely more than just close friends, but they don’t consider themselves girlfriends (yet)  
> Raphael and Ignatz are new boyfriends! They’re both new to the boyfriend thing, but they are together!  
> Slyvain and Felix still both have a ways to go. Felix is in denial about his feelings and Slyvain is confused by his feelings so they’re just two confused young men.


End file.
